


The Ethics of Turning Your TA into a Demon

by quartzguts



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Demons, M/M, Possessive Behavior, Sexual Tension, Violent Thoughts, happy early halloween??, tagging demyx because the theory is still strong even in this au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-17
Updated: 2019-10-17
Packaged: 2020-12-20 21:22:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21063392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quartzguts/pseuds/quartzguts
Summary: Luxu is a TA for Professor Edym's philosophy class. This goes about as well as can be hoped.





	The Ethics of Turning Your TA into a Demon

"Hey, Luxu, you okay?"

Ava's sweet face is hanging in front of him, worried and waiting for his answer. Luxu blinks twice, hard, and sheepishly rubs the back of his neck.

"Yeah, sorry." He clears his stuff off of the fold out desk and pushes it down next to the seat. "I didn't mean to space out."

"That's okay," she says. "Class has been over for a while, though." She shifts a little. The fabric of her pink dress catches on her messenger bag, riding up her thigh just a little. Luxu finds himself following the motion, then blushes with embarrassment.

"I have to go to meet with Professor Edym," he says, and runs.

\---

His appetite has been positively ravenous lately. When he visits the food court for lunch, he orders two meat-heavy sandwiches, and asks for extra on the side. The woman who works the line during his lunch break looks at him oddly, knowing he usually orders tuna or vegan subs, but gives him what he wants anyway. He eats all of it in less than five minutes.

He doesn't have time to think about his newfound hunger, because he has to go to Professor Edym's office and help him grade the last set of exams from their class. He'd intended on eating while they worked, but now he'll just have to do without. At least he won't be hungry.

Except when he gets there and the Professor greets him with a smile and a plate of sashimi, he doesn't say no.

\---

He's started looking worse for wear the past few days. His dark circles are more pronounced, and his curly black hair refuses to lie flat no matter what he does. He has a splitting headache, too, which has lasted for almost a full day despite the painkillers and naps he's taken. He's sure he looks horrible despite his best efforts to dress nice for Professor Edym's class.

Ira is in their apartment's kitchen making lunch when Luxu passes through on his way to the door. He's a year younger than Luxu, so he's still an undergrad, but he's pre-med and likes giving pseudo-medical advice to anyone who will listen. Luxu figures it's worth a shot.

"Hey, do I look alright?" he asks. "I feel sick."

Ira glances over, looks him up and down, and turns back to his cutting board quickly. "You look fine to me."

"Really? I feel awful," Luxu says. His eyes are drawn to the ground beef Ira has in a bowl on the counter.

"You look fine - great, actually," Ira says. He sounds weirdly shy.

"If you say so." Luxu shovels a handful of beef into his mouth before he can think about it and runs for the door. "See you later."

He buys more painkillers and a pack of deli meat on his way to class.

\---

After class is over he hangs around his office for an hour, doing homework and talking to the few students who show up (most of them are asking about grades, which is fair, because Professor Edym teaches philosophy and who needs help with that?). His head is still pounding. He pops another few painkillers. When his office hours are up, he snaps his textbook shut and practically runs to the Professor's office.

He isn't tired when he gets there, even though he opted to run up three flights of stairs because the elevator is just _ so slow_. He _ is _ sweaty, though. Professor Edym fixes him with an odd smile. He’s still wearing his coat and gloves, so he must have just arrived at the office.

"Are you alright, Luxu? You seem a bit under the weather."

"Maybe a little," he says. He's standing awkwardly in the doorway now that he's realized he has no reason to actually be here; he just ran without thinking. Professor Edym gestures to the seat on the other side of his desk.

Luxu sits down quickly. "I've had this awful headache for the past two days."

"What? How terrible!" The Professor's theatrics make Luxu smile even though his skull feels like it's being split apart. "Let me take a look."

Luxu has no idea how he plans to diagnose the source of a headache by looking, but he leans forward anyway. The Professor pulls his gloves off and places his hands on Luxu’s face.

Professor Edym's fingers massage his temples gently before pushing back into his hair. Luxu hisses as he touches sore skin on either side of his head. "You have some bumps here," the Professor says. "Maybe you ran your head into something."

_ Twice? On both sides? _Luxu groans. He resists the urge to grab the Professor's coat and yank him down into a kiss. "Yeah. You're probably right."

\---

He meets up with Invi and Gula in the library the next day to study together. They all have different classes these days, but ever since they met in Professor Edym's Intro to Philosophy class four years ago they've studied in a group. Gula groans when he opens up his laptop.

"Something wrong?" Invi asks.

"It's this stupid online class," Gula mutters. "The TA doesn't seem to realize that I don't care."

"Why're you taking it, then?" Invi says as she takes four highlighters and two pens, all different colors, out of her pencil pouch.

"I had to have one more credit this semester, so I'm just taking this for an easy A." Gula slumps further into his seat while Invi carefully arranges her notebook on the table. "Who knew art history would be so difficult?"

"Maybe the TA knows why you're taking it and is grading you extra hard," Luxu says.

Gula looks up at him with a snort, then seems to forget what he was planning on saying. His eyes immediately dart back down to his computer. "Is that what you do, oh powerful graduate student?"

"I am a completely upstanding TA, and I find your accusation horribly misplaced." Luxu moves to look at Invi and finds she's avoiding his gaze, too. He frowns. Does he really look that bad?

Invi clears her throat and says "of course you grade fairly.” Her eyes are still on her notebook. She’s drawing a little circle in the margin with her pen. "Wasn't Professor Edym's class size always really small, because of how inconsistent he was with grading?"

"Don't remind me!" Gula says. "I remember how easy he was on Ira! Still kind of pisses me off…"

"And he was always very hard on me," Invi says with a fond laugh.

"I don't think he did it on purpose," Luxu says. "He just adapts his teaching style for each student individually."

"Still." Invi looks at him finally, a gentle pink blush spreading on her cheeks. Luxu isn't sure why, but a deep smugness settles in his stomach. "It's a good thing he has you now."

\---

Professor Edym asks about Ava as Luxu sets up the projector before their next class. "It's been so long since I've seen her," he says, smiling. "How is she?"

A fierce jealousy takes Luxu's heart. It shocks him so much he has to take a moment to force it down before he can speak. "She's doing fine. She's actually tutoring some undergrads in ancient history on Mondays. Says it pays well."

"How delightful!" the Professor laughs. The jealousy wraps itself tightly around Luxu's heart. He didn’t want to know that Ava could extract this sort of joy from his Professor. "It's always wonderful to hear that my _ beloved _ former students are doing well."

"Yes," Luxu says. He snaps the pencil he's holding. "I imagine it is."

\---

The next time he sees Ava is at the park on campus. She's sitting on the grass, bundled up in a coat far too warm for the autumn weather, sketching a family of ducks that are huddled around the edge of the pond. She notices him on the sidewalk and waves.

He waves back. For a split second, he imagines tearing open her throat with his nails and drinking the blood as it pools at her collarbone.

He walks away as quickly as possible, his hands shoved firmly in his pockets.

\---

Luxu stays in bed the next day. He doesn't have a class to TA for, but he does have an actual class in the afternoon. He shoots the professor an email and explains that he hasn't been feeling well for a week now. He gets a response quickly, which boils down to _ I'm sorry you're sick, make sure you get a doctor's note or I'm deducting points from your grade_.

He groans and wonders if he can ask Ira to forge him something.

He's been lying in bed for what feels like ages when a knock comes at his door. He barely gets out a "come in" before it’s opening.

Aced looks around the room and snorts. "Well, this is a mess."

Luxu grumbles. Aced's deep voice is killer for his headache. He buries his face in his pillow.

The sound of Aced shuffling around the room makes him peek out from his blanket cocoon. Aced is cleaning, picking up the clothes and books scattered on the floor and putting them back where they belong. He tosses an empty package of meat - still bloody from where Luxu had ripped the wrapping off and eaten it raw - in the trash, chuckling like his housemate having bloody garbage on the floor isn’t weird at all.

“What are you doing?” Luxu asks. He flinches as Aced opens the curtains of his bedroom’s only window.

“Oh, sorry,” Aced says sheepishly, and closes them again. “I’m just helping out. You’re sick, right?”

“Yeah,” Luxu murmurs. “I feel awful. Have for _ days._”

“Well, you don’t look sick.” Aced picks up Luxu’s jacket and hangs it over his desk chair. “I mean, you look great. Better than usual.”

“Oh?” Luxu shifts on the bed, still laying on his stomach so he’s pressing himself against the mattress. He realizes what he’s doing, but can’t bring himself to stop when Aced’s eyes are following the way he arches his back.

“Yeah,” Aced stammers. “Well, I think this is clean enough now. If you need anything, just call.”

“Will do,” Luxu murmurs. He watches Aced intently as he leaves the room.

The second the door closes, he curls up in a ball and hyperventilates. What the hell is _ wrong _with him?

\---

He goes to class the next day. Skipping classes wasn't a habit he could let himself fall into. Besides that, Professor Edym’s class is today and he doesn’t want him to worry. He tries fixing his hair, but it’s even curlier than usual, so he just throws a beanie over it. He winces as the fabric catches on the two bumps still present on the sides of his head. The skin around his eyes looks darker, like smudged eyeliner left over from a night of partying, but he wasn’t wearing makeup yesterday so he must just be imagining it.

He sits in the same spot he always does at the front of the room, takes notes on the Professor's teaching style, and helps him turn on his projector. It’s a completely normal day, except for the fact that his headache is worse than ever and the students seem rowdier than usual. He’s about to turn around and shush them when he hears two girls behind him giggle.

“Was our TA always this hot?” one asks the other. Luxu hears it even though he probably shouldn’t be able to. They’re sitting in the back half of the classroom, after all. “Seriously, look at him! Think I should ask for his number?”

He leaves quickly once class is over. The only person in the room he wants to give his number to already has it.

\---

He’s in Professor Edym’s office again, grading student projects while the Professor types up his latest paper for the university’s philosophy journal. Luxu is just barely keeping focus, eyes drooping, resisting the urge to grip the sides of his head and scream or maybe just pass out. He’s hungry, and irritated, and he saw Ava again this morning and thought about crushing her throat when she asked how _ Edym _was doing. He feels like knives are being jammed into his skull, and his stomach screams for food despite the fact that he ate lunch literally thirty minutes ago. He knows he should really go to the ER, but he doesn’t like the idea of some doctor examining him. Examining means touching, and he doesn’t want to be touched right now.

“Are you alright, Luxu?” Professor Edym asks him for the fourth time that afternoon. “You look like you’re in pain.”

The Professor has no idea, but Luxu can’t tell him. His head hurts too much to talk. He whimpers.

“Oh, dear,” the Professor sighs. “Well, we aren’t going to get any work done like this. Let’s go home, okay?”

Luxu nods. He follows the Professor out of the office, into the elevator, and then out into the parking lot without complaint. When the pain intensifies in the bright sunlight, Luxu squeezes his eyes shut and presses a hand to his forehead. The Professor grabs his sleeve and drags him along. He doesn’t realize he’s been herded into _ Professor Edym’s _ car until they’re already pulling out of the parking lot.

“Professor,” he wheezes. The attempt at speech only worsens the pain.

“Here,” Professor Edym says. He flips a lever under Luxu’s seat and it falls backwards, letting him lie down. The Professor drives slowly the rest of the way. Luxu passes out.

\---

He wakes up in a bed with black sheets, in a room that’s nearly pitch with how dark it is. He can see perfectly, though, and the high, slim windows and cool grey walls tell him he’s in a basement. He starts to get up, but a violent pain takes his body and he screams as he collapses back onto the bed.

“Oh, poor little Luxu,” Edym’s voice chimes, but Luxu can’t see him anywhere. The bed sinks behind him. A cold rag is laid over his forehead. “It’s alright. Just deal with the pain for now.”

“What…” Luxu gasps. “_What…._”

“It’s just your horns,” Edym says. He presses a kiss to Luxu’s neck. Luxu screams again. “It’ll all be over soon.”

\---

The next time Luxu wakes up he’s back in his own bedroom. It’s 3:27 am, four hours before his morning alarm is set to go off. He thinks yesterday must have been some sort of dream - Professor Edym would never take Luxu back to his house. That would be beyond inappropriate, and while the Professor has always been eccentric Luxu can’t imagine he’d ever go that far.

Luxu stumbles out of bed. He feel off balance, like his head weighs a ton more than the rest of his body. He stumbles out of his room finds that he doesn’t need to turn on the hallway light to see. Once he’s in the bathroom, he collapses on the counter in front of the sink, turns on the facet, and splashes cold water on his face. Then he looks up.

He stumbles back until he hits the wall.

There are horns growing out of his head - shiny black like his hair and curly like goat’s horns. He raises a hand up to touch one, and shocks himself. He can feel his fingers pressing against the bone, little static currents running through his head like he’s touching part of his skull.

He lunges towards the mirror and parts his hair around one of them, hoping he’ll see a headband and realize Aced just pranked him by dressing him up for Halloween in his sleep. Reality apparently has no intention of making things easy for him, because there are bloody scabs surrounding the horn, and the skin is taught and pale is if it’s been injured. When he finally tears his eyes away, he notices that his irises have changed color - they’re yellow instead of brown, and remind him of egg yolk. The blackness around his eyes is still there, but it’s not makeup; the skin around his eyes looks burnt.

He throws up in the toilet. His vomit is bloody. His blood freezes when he realizes he doesn’t remember what he had for dinner last night.

\---

Luxu spends the rest of the day jumpy and anxious, waiting for the afternoon when he'll have an excuse to visit Professor Edym’s office. He puts his hands up to his horns occasionally, just to feel them and make sure they’re still there. Of course, he's always _ aware _ of them, heavy as they are, and they keep making him lose his balance. He’s fallen into several people already, but each time they just blush and tell him it’s perfectly okay he almost just knocked them over.

That’s not the only weird thing that's happened, either. When he’d asked Ira and Aced to look at the horns that morning, just to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating, they’d stared at him with glossy eyes and complimented him profusely. Aced had licked his lips. Luxu ran out the door before he could do something they’d all regret.

His back has been aching, too, similar to the pain that had started in his head over a week week ago. It’s focused in two spots, one on each of his shoulder blades. He’s scared to feel them, in case there are bumps.

Now he’s finally standing in front of Professor Edym’s office with panic bubbling in his chest and his stupid horns aching in the disgustingly cold air conditioning that’s always blasting in the humanities building. He forces himself to knock on the door gently.

“Come in!” the Professor calls out. He sounds irritatingly chipper.

Even so, the sound of his voice makes the shy attraction Luxu has always had for him erupt into a violent fire, burning low in his gut. He gulps down the sudden dryness in his throat and throws open the door. He accidentally rips it off its hinges.

“Edym,” he says. “I think there’s something wrong with me.”

Edym lights up at the sight of him. He ignores the battered door against the wall fixes his gaze firmly on Luxu’s horns. “Ah! I see they’ve finished growing in all the way. They look lovely, I must say.”

“No one else has noticed them,” Luxu says. There are a million questions he’d been planning to ask him, like, _ what the fuck did you do to me _ and _ why do why do I feel like you belong to me and I’ll kill anyone else who tries to have you _\- but now that he’s actually in Edym’s presence, he doesn’t think it really matters. There’s something in the air, a current of electricity that’s letting them communicate without saying anything at all.

He knows that he’s in the presence of a much more powerful predator, a beast who could kill him without breaking a sweat if he wanted to.

He also knows Edym won’t. Luxu can tell from the way he’s leaning back in his desk chair, appreciatively looking at his horns and eyes, that Edym isn’t planning on hurting him.

“Edym,” he says again, forcing out the question anyway. “What’s happening to me?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Edym purrs. His eyes flash golden yellow, just for a moment. “For now, let’s just worry about your _ wings_.”

Luxu nods, and wonders if Edym’s new paper is about the ethics of turning your TA into a demon.

**Author's Note:**

> i took a lot of cues from devilman on demon possession - namely that becoming a demon makes you hot and gives you permanent eyeliner


End file.
